GRRRRR!!! Choke cable

[Pigeonrat9]

Finally had a crack at fitting my Weber 32/34 to my 1.2 Antibes over the weekend. It's gone on okay, and the car runs well enough (well, apart for idling at 2500rpm with the mixture and idle screws all the way in lol - methinks it's jetted wrongly at the moment), but I've got a real problem with the choke cable. On the original Pierburg 1B1 carb the choke linkage was on the nearside of the car, and the choke cable curled around the front of the carb to meet it. On the 32/34 the choke linkage is on the offside of the car, above the throttle linkage.
The standard 1.2 choke cable is pretty long, and I've tried routing it in every way I thought possible - down the back of the block, all the way round the carb in a circle, looped towards the wiper motor and back - but in all cases the choke knob is so stiff you can't actually pull it out of the dash. After a while I gave up and cut the cable down a bit so I could loop it straight out of the bulkhead into the linkage, but it still has to bend too much and the choke knob still won't move!
Am I missing something here, is there a special choke cable or linkage for this? Any advice or photos of anyone's car with the same carb and choke cable would be great...

Cheers ;)

[Adam]

You could go a motor factors see if they sell a "universal" choke cable...

2500rpm idle, sounds like you've got a air leak.

[Welsh Dan]

Does the choke linkage on the weber move freely with the choke cable disconnected?

[Pigeonrat9]

Does the choke linkage on the weber move freely with the choke cable disconnected?

It does, yes - and the choke knob moves freely if you disconnect and straighten out the cable, as it did before. In order to connect to the linkage though it has to bend into an S-shape back towards the bulkhead, then the carb. I won't pretend to know what's what but it doesn't look to me that the cable is the problem, more the route it has to take. Would a picture help?

Long Live The Nova - I'd hope there isn't an air leak, the carb's used but both it and the 1300 manifold have had all new gaskets and the vac hose is tight. It's being set up properly by Track and Road in Rainham next Wednesday, so they might see something I don't...

[Adam]

If its idling at 2500rpm with the idle speed screw adjusted all the way down, it does have an air leak.

[Pigeonrat9]

If its idling at 2500rpm with the idle speed screw adjusted all the way down, it does have an air leak.
Hmm, great, something else to sort out then. Hopefully that should be easy enough, but the choke's the bigger problem at the mo. I've stuck some pics up anyway - this obviously is after I cut the choke lead down a bit. Does this look right or not?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t6/Pigeonrat9/choke1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t6/Pigeonrat9/choke2.jpg

Choke cable is the top one. (And please excuse the galloping battery tray rust :roll:)

[Adam]

Hmm, i think its the angle the cable is sitting at just as it exits the bulkhead thats causing the problem.

Do you have the small gasket fitted inbetween the alloy adaptor plate and the inlet manifold?

[Pigeonrat9]

Hmm, i think its the angle the cable is sitting at just as it exits the bulkhead thats causing the problem.

Do you have the small gasket fitted inbetween the alloy adaptor plate and the inlet manifold?
Yeah, that's the plastic oval shaped one about 6mm thick? Brand-new GM one on there. What's really irritating is the throttle cable follows a similar path yet seems fine...

[Adam]

There should be carb>gasket>alloy plate>gasket>inlet

[Pigeonrat9]

There should be carb>gasket>alloy plate>gasket>inlet

That's the one, with the throttle cable mounted to the alloy plate. Yeah, it's all there, I just don't get why it's so stiff. The choke cable worked fine beforehand. Perhaps it might be worth scrounging an even longer cable than the one I had before it was cut down, a bonnet release cable perhaps? Maybe then I could loop it all the way round the carb in a wider loop than it was before.

If you or anyone have got a photo of their engine bay, so I can see the route their cable takes, that'd be fantastic :thumb:

[Welsh Dan]

I think i've spotted the problem, the part of the choke cable that moves is the thin bit of wire in the middle, you need to cut the rest of the brown sheath off.

[Pigeonrat9]

I think i've spotted the problem, the part of the choke cable that moves is the thin bit of wire in the middle, you need to cut the rest of the brown sheath off.

Aaahhh...yes, that sounds like it's worth a try, come to think of it the centre wire was bare on it before I cut it down. I assumed the nylon sheath moved inside the steel cable, didn't realise the thin wire moved on its' own. I'll have a crack at that tonight and we'll see where we get to.

Cheers for that :D

[Pigeonrat9]

Right, done that and it looks good. The choke's still pretty stiff, but at least it'll pull out without trying to bring half the dashboard with it, so that's got to be better. Perhaps it'll loosen up after a little while...

Anyway, thanks very much for that, wouldn't have spotted it myself!

Long Live The Nova - I think I've found why it's idling so high. The throttle linkage spring was a bit gunked up and wasn't returning properly when you lift off the throttle. Bit of carb cleaner and it's fine :)

[Welsh Dan]

See if you can get a thin lubricant like W5 or similar into the choke cable itself, and make sure the choke linkage is clean and lubricated.

[Pigeonrat9]

Different to WD40, presumably? It's had a good go of that, anyway. Got some silicone lube too, is it worth giving that a go?

[Welsh Dan]

The silicone one will do. WD40 should never really be used as a lube, its ok for freeing stuff up, but sets in time and can make problems worse. Stuff as much of the silicone one in there as you can, it wont hurt.

[Pigeonrat9]

The silicone one will do. WD40 should never really be used as a lube, its ok for freeing stuff up, but sets in time and can make problems worse. Stuff as much of the silicone one in there as you can, it wont hurt.

Top stuff, that's helped no end, thanks very much as usual! :thumb:

[Welsh Dan]

No problem :).